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(ModeL) 0. GASSETT. Electrical Signal Apparatus for Railways.

Patented Nov. 23, 1880..

WITNEEEES- N PEI'ERS, FHOYO LITHOGRAPHER, WAslllNGTON. D C.

Uwrrnn STATES fa'rnwr Orrrcn.

OSCAR GASSETT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNION ELECTRIC SIGNAL COMPANY.

ELECTRICAL SIGNAL APPARATUS FOR RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 234,707, dated November 23, 1880.

Application filed April 12, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, OSOAR- GAssETT, 0 Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Railway-Signal Apparatus, of which the following description, in connection with the accompany ing drawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to an electric signal apparatus for railways, and is embodied in a machine mechanically actuated, as by a weight or spring, to place a signal-banner in different positions, the said machine being controlled by the charging and demagnetization of a single electro-magnet.

Heretofore in electric signaling the mechanically-operated signals have beencontrolled by detents, operated either by two electric magnets, one to allow the signal to be placed in one and the other in the other position, or by a double movement of attraction and withdrawal of the armature of a single electro-magnet, the mechanical operation being the same whether the signal is moved from safety to danger or the reverse.

My invention consists in a detent device so controlled by the armature of an eleetro-magnet that the machine is stopped with the signal in one position when the armature is attracted to and in the other position when the said armature is released from its magnet, the position of the signal thus being dependent on the condition of the magnet.

The invention also consists in the combination, with a locking-disk, of alocking-lever to engage a slot in the said disk, and thereby hold the signal stationary at the end of its movement until the signal is to be again moved, when the said device is automatically withdrawn to release the signal to allow said movement to take place.

Figure l is a front view of a signal-machine embodying my invention, Fig. 2, an end view thereof 5 Fig. 3, a detail showing the locking device in plan, and Fig.4 a front view of the locking-lever and its operating-cam detached.

The frame-work a is of suitable form to sustain the various parts. The signal-moving mechanism is actuated by a weight, b, supported on a cord, I), wound on a drum, 0, secured to the winding-arbor 0, having its bearings in the frame a. The said arbor c has (ModeL) secured upon it a ratchet-wheel, d, adapted to engage a pawl, '61, on the gear 6, loose on the arbor o and cause the said gear to turn with the said arbor when actuated by the weight b 5 5 in running down, but allowing the said shaft to be turned by a suitable key applied to its squared end to wind up the weight without moving the gear 0 in the usual manner. The gear 0 meshes with a pinion, f, on a shaft, f, having also received upon it the detent-lever {1, provided with a crank or wrist pin, y, connected bya link, It, with a segmental gear, It, meshing with another segmental gear, h', on the signal-shaft it It will be seen that by this connection a half-revolution of the shaft f and detent-lever y will cause an oscillation of the segmental gear It to the left if the crank g moves up, and to the rightif the said crank moves down, and the teeth of the gears h h are so proportioned that this oscillation will cause a proper rotation of the signal-shaft k to display a signal, which may be placed in a socket or otherwise connected with the said shaft in. one position and then in another.

As herein shown, the signal is a plane disk, h (indicated in Fig. 3,) with its plane parallel to the axis of the sh aft h and the latter makes a quarter-revolution at each half-rotation of the detent-lever g from the position shown in full lines to that shown in dotted lines, so that, the direction of the track being that of the arrow, the edge of the disk in the first ease, the crank g being in its lowest position, and the face thereof in the second case, the crank g being up, will be presented to the engineer of a train on the said track.

The movement of the detent-lever g, and consequently the position of the signal IV, is

controlled by an electro-magnct, t', suitably sup- 9o ported on the frame a, and provided with an armature, i, on the short arm of a lever, t pivoted at 2, and limited in its movements on the said pivot by suitable stop pins 3 4:, the long arm of the lever overbalancing the short 5 arm when not affected by the magnet i, and then falling to the pin 3, but being raised against the pin 4 by the attraction of the armature to the magnet when thelatter is vitalized by an electric current.

The armature-lever t is provided with a catch, j, to engage one of the detent-studs 5 6 on the detent-lever g, the one, 5, being in proper position on the said lever g to engage the catch j only when the armature-lever i is resting on the stop-pin 3, as in full lines, Fig. 1, and the stud 6 being so placed as to engage the catch j only when the lever i is against the pin 4, as in dotted lines, Fig. 1.

It follows that as long as the magnet i is demagnetized the signal will remain in one posi tion, as shown in Fig. 3, presenting its edge to the engineer; and evenifanyone should tamper with it, raising the oatchj to set the signalin the wrong position, the said catch would fall again as soon as left to itself and the signal return to the proper position. As soon as the magnet '13 is charged the armature-lever is moved by the attraction of said magnet to the position shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1, against the stop 4, the catch j being carried beyond the range of the stud 5, then releasing it and allowing the detent-lever to be turned by the weight 2 and connecting mechanism until after a half-revolution of said lever, and consequent change of the signal, the stud 6 arrives at the catch j, now in position to engage it and hold the lever g as long as the magnet t remains charged. hen the magnet is again demaguetized the lever t falls, the stud 6 passes over the catch j, and the stud 5 is again caught after the detent-lever g has made a half-revolution and the signal been changed. When the signal has completedits movement in either direction it is locked to prevent any rebound or movement of the signal by a force applied from any other quarter than the shaft f and crank g by a lockinglever, l, pivoted at 7, engaging one of the slots m in the locking-disk a. (See Figs. 3 and 4.)

The locking-lever is controlled in its movements by a cam,p, on the shaft f, which is mainly circular in shape, having opposite flat portions, 8 9, against which the lower end of the lever l rests when the upper end is in one of the slots m.

It will be observed that when the signal is turned in the regular manner by the weight I) the cam 1) acts on the lever l to disengage it from the disk n at the very first movement of the shaft f; but at this time the crank g is passing its dead-center relative to the link h, so that the signal-shaft k and disk a do not begin to rotate until the lever Z is completely withdrawn from the slot m, and for a like reason the said lever is allowed to engage the other slot m just at the end of the rotation of the signal-shaft. If the shaft It should be forcibly acted on from the outside, as by the wind on an exposed signal-disk, to turn it, the disk at at the edges of the slot on would bear upon the lever Z, and be held thereby before the shaft f would be turned at all to release the said lever. The locking lever 1 should be held against the cam 19 by a suitable sprin The electro'magnet t may be operated in any desired manner. An electric current passes through the coils of the electromagnet when the signal is to be in one position, and is diverted therefrom when the signal is to be in the other position. This may be done by a key opening and closing the circuit of the said magnet; or the said circuit may be controlled automatically by the train, the sig nal being adapted for use with the magnet in a closed circuit composed mainly of the rails of a section of the track, the current being diverted from the magnet by the wheels and axles of atrain when it comes on the said section, and thus causing the signal to be set.

The link h is slotted where it connects with the gear h, to allow a slight play between the link It and gear It, thus insuring the proper action of the locking device 1 and preventing the shake or jar of the signal-disk caused by the wind from affecting the detent-lever and driving mechanism.

1 am aware that signal apparatus has been used containing signal-arms, all of which are adapted to be engaged when the magnet is magnetized, (its normal condition,) one or more of the said arms being also provided with stops to be engaged when the magnetis demagnetized, as by the accidental breaking of a circuit-wire or by some abnormal condition of the trains; but such apparatus will not give one definite signal for each condition of the magnet, as it may indicate both danger and safety with the same condition of the controlling electro-magnet.

I do not broadly claim two sets of stops, one set to be engaged (regardless of the posi tion of the signal) when the magnet is charged and the other when it is demagnetized; butI only claim such stops when arranged in relation to the condition of the magnet and the position the signal is to assume under such condition as herein described.

I claim 1. In a railway-signal apparatus, a visual signal and mechanism to move it to cause it to be displayed in two dili'erent positions, indicating safety and danger respectively, or the like, and an electro-magnet' and detent device controlled thereby to arrest the signalmoving mechanism, the said detent device being adapted to always engage and hold the signal-moving mechanism in one and the same position while the said electro-magnet is magnetized, and only then, and to hold the said signal in its other position when the said magnet is demagnetized, and only then, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. An electro-magnet and its armature and armature-lever provided with a catch, combined with mechanism to operate a signal and a detent-lever to be engaged by the said catch to stop the saidmechanism with the signal displayed in one of its definite positions only when the armature is attracted to and in its other position only when the armature is released from its magnet, substantially as described.

3. A signal-shaft and a cranked shaft and mechanism to connect it with said signal- In testimonywherecflhave signed my name shaft to rotate it to display a signal in differl to this specification in the presence of two subent positioi i s, combined with a locking-disk scribing Witnesses.

on the signal-shaft, and a locking-lever to en- OSCAR GASSETT. gage and hold the said disk, actuated by a \Vitnesses:

suitable cam on the cranked shaft, snbstanl J 0s. P. LIVERMORE, tially as described. ARTHUR REYNOLDS. 

